Jim and Bonnie 2012

Merry Christmas Everyone!   (Please read the red message to the right so you will know how this Electronic Christmas Card works.)  

This year has been a roller coaster ride for almost everyone we know.  As someone pointed out, "I have not heard a single person say I really want to do 2012 over again!"  In that case, we sincerely wish you a Very Merry Christmas and if your trials have been severe, we pray that the light of the Christmas spirit will lighten your hearts and bring comfort this year.

For us it has been trying at times but for the most part...All Is Calm and All Is Bright heading into Christmas and 2013.  We are grateful for the happiness we enjoy, the great memories, the good health, and the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ to uplift and inspire us each day.  We have everything we need and our family is well.  We have the best friends anyone could hope for so we look forward to the new year and the joy it will bring.  We wish the same for all of you.

We have traveled quite a bit this year.  Last Christmas we touched down in Utah for a few days to see the family and then reboarded for our flight to the east.  We spent a positively amazing month with our daughter, Laura, and grandsons, Spencer and Ross, keeping them company for the holidays while Robert was deployed to Afghanistan.  Oh, how we did miss him!  Just being together helped us all cope better with his absence.  There is nothing nicer about being our age then to be able to have discretionary time for family and friends and the things that matter most.

We went to Utah 4 times, twice for nearly a month.  Jim spent 16 fantastic days in Peru with our son, Christopher. We had a wonderful Family Reunion up there in Sundance at the end of July and I was able to attend a few conferences this summer.  Laura and the boys returned with us to California for two weeks in August after our reunion. Heavenly!   It has been a wild ride of running all year...running to good places and to good things.

Jim hiking in Peru in July.

What a great opportunity that was for him.

We didn't have any pictures of us together! 

 I guess it is a hard task to get a good one of 

the two of us when we are out and about alone.

Those arm's length ones don't cut it.

We are each enjoying our individual pursuits and he is still building his wonderful workshop up on the back 40.  It has been his life long dream and it will be done by next Christmas.  Many things seem to take him away from his project but phase one and two of the plan are completed.  He has built his access road, cleared the spot, built a large barn and gotten all his things organized.  He has graded the area where his shop will finally be built.  Now he is just waiting for spring to get the foundation poured and start the construction. 

We are both still doing Family History and Genealogy weekly and I am working on some new classes to teach.  Most of them on family history and one on a wonderful application called Evernote which is amazing.   I am still writing a lot and could not part with my computer.  Pinterest.com is my relaxation.  Here are some links to some Christmas Boards I have been creating.  

http://pinterest.com/onedesigner/santa-baby-you-re-the-one/

http://pinterest.com/onedesigner/christmas-magic/  

http://pinterest.com/onedesigner/christmas-lights/

{ Most of the photos on these boards are links so just click one time to go down a page.  You will usually find the recipes or other ideas by clicking down once for each page until you find it.  It is usually the third page down.}

We love traveling together, photography, cooking and entertaining together and planning our trip to the East coast for the month of May 2013.  We are flying to Charleston and checking a place off our bucket list. We have wanted to go to Charleston for a long time because it looks and sounds very beautiful and we have long enjoyed the study of the historic aspects of it.  We will rent a car and drive up the coast viewing points of interest and then on to visit our kids in Rhode Island.  Our plan is to then fly to Salt Lake and to be with our Utah kids for Chloe's baptism in the beginning of June. 

This past couple of years we have both become captivated by British movies and TV.  We cannot wait for season 3 of Downton Abbey to begin in January.  We love being home and just working on our house and property. We still enjoy our day trips around the area very much and have found lots of new places we were unaware of when our lives were so very regulated by work places, schedules and deadlines.  

Although things are of course not perfect for anyone, we try to focus on what is and all of our blessings.  We like to ask ourselves, "Have I done any good in the world today?" In that way we can sincerely say, "It's A Wonderful Life!" 

10 of our very best gifts our children have given us. 

 Here they are in their birth order.

Even when we are not together for Christmas,

 they make it wonderful for us.

They are the gifts that keep on giving!

Photo from Our Family Reunion 2012

There is a fun video next and then on to news of each family.

To see the next part of the card just look down 

and slightly to the right and click on Older Post.